Old Age in the United States, 1880 (ICPSR 8427)

This data collection describes the social conditions of the
older population of the United States in the late nineteenth century.
Variables include personal characteristics such as age, sex, marital
status, race, birthplace, number of children, and occupation of sampled
older persons. Detailed information, extracted from the 1880 United
States Census manuscript census schedules, is provided on household
composition and family structure. In addition, occupational and ethnic
characte... (more info)

This data collection describes the social conditions of the
older population of the United States in the late nineteenth century.
Variables include personal characteristics such as age, sex, marital
status, race, birthplace, number of children, and occupation of sampled
older persons. Detailed information, extracted from the 1880 United
States Census manuscript census schedules, is provided on household
composition and family structure. In addition, occupational and ethnic
characteristics of family heads appearing on the same sampled census
page as the older person (on census pages grouped by street location)
are reported. The data collection consists of three independent
samples: (1) a national sample, (2) a Southern urban sample, and (3) a
Southern Black sample. Older Blacks are over-represented in the
Southern urban and Southern Black samples in order to focus on their
family experiences in the urban and rural South.

Universe:
Noninstitutionalized population of the United States aged
65 and older in 1880 for the sample, noninstitutionalized population
aged 65 and older living in the urban South in 1880 for the Southern
urban sample, and noninstitutionalized population aged 65 and older
living in the South in 1880 for the Southern Black sample.

Methodology

Sample:
Three independent samples were drawn from the 1880 United
States Census. Sample members were selected from clusters defined by
manuscript census pages. The first sample was a stratified sample of
the population aged 65 and older in 1880. Southern Blacks were
oversampled in the other two samples. The Southern urban sample was
drawn from 17 urban Primary Sampling Units (cities with populations
over 4,000) and included 473 Blacks and 315 Whites. The Southern Black
sample was drawn from 32 counties in the South and consisted of 804
Blacks and 405 Whites.

Data Source:

manuscript census schedules from the United States
Census for 1880

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: